AN APPEAL FOR THE UNION ! 

?^ LETTERS 



HON. THOMAS G. PEATT, 



HON. JAMES ALFRED PEARCE, 

UNITED STATES SENATORS, 



THEIR CONSTITUENTS, THE PEOPLE OF MA.RYLAND; 

AND ^-*aL» ; 

A SPEECH OF I 

JAMES B. CLAY, ESQ., 

SON OF HENRY CLAY, 

ON 

THE DUTY OE THE OLD-LINE WHIGS 

IN THB 

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 



WASHINGTON: 
PRINTED AT THE UNION OFFICE. 

185G. 






:.i 



THE TRIUMPH OF SECTIONALISM THE DEATII-KNELL 

0¥ THE UNION. 

LETTER OF HON. THOMAS G. PRAIT TO THE WHIGS OF MARYLAND. 

In response to the connnunicationa received from many of my brother whigs, I 
deem it my privilege, in this manner, to counsel with all in relation to the course 
which patriotism and duty would seem to indicate as proper in the present politi- 
•al crisis. 

No lover of his country whose judorment is unbiased by party zeal and uncon- 
trolled by northern or southern fanaticism can fail to see and deprecate the ponding 
dano-er to the Union. 

The first duty of every man who loves his country and her institutions is to pro- 
vide for their safety. The life of the nation is in danger. It must be saved ; then, 
and nut till tlien, will it be permissible tons to discuss our differences of opinion upon 
minor subjects. 

I say tbat the life of the Union is in danger, because, for the first time in our 
history, a party has been formed composed exclusively of citizens of one section of 
the country, bound together by the single bond of an alliance for offensive warfare 
against the other section. That the success of such a party would iin peril the 
Union has been recently demonstrated by an address of Mr. Fillmore, and will, it 
is submitted, be apparent to all who will bestow a moment's consideration upon the 
existing posture of political affairs. 

[Mr. Pratt then considers the value of the institution of domestic servitude, 
and the guarantees of the constitution in relation to it, and proceeds :] Whilst 
the abolitionists on the one hand openly avow their opposition to the con- 
stitution and their desire to destroy a government which imposes obligation* 
repudiated by them, on the other hand many southern men, goaded by the in- 
cessant attacks of their northern fellow-citizens upon their feelings, their prop- 
eitj, and their constitutional rights, express the belief that the interests of the 
South would be more effectually protected by a separation of the slave from the 
non-slaveho!ding States, and therefore rather promote than interpose to prevent a 
result so calamitous. We have hitherto disregarded the danger which such a state 
of feeling and such a course of action would indicate as most imminent, bi-cause we 
have assumed that such sentiments and action could only be attributed to a small 
minority of our northern brethren. But now, when this sectional exasperation ha« 
been made available for the inauguration of a party calling itself republican, un- 
der whose banner, for the first time in the history of the country, this sectional op- 
position to southern rights and interests have united in nominating, with alleged 
probabilities of success, a purely sectional ticket for the presidency and vice presi- 
dency of the United States, we can no longer shut our eyes to the reality of the 
threatened danger; we cannot but feel that the success of such a party would be 
the death-knell of the Union. The u/ipatriotic purposes of this sectional party are 
but too manifest. Many of its supporters avow their object and purpose to be dis- 
union, and have even gone so far in the madness of their fanaticism as to desecrate 
the liag of our country by obliterating fr^m its constellation the fifteen stars which. 
represent the slaveholding States, and displaying as their party banner that flag 
with but sixteen of its stars remaining, to represent the sixteen non-slnveholding 
States. It is manifest that those who disavow the object are not ignorant of the 
inevitable result. 



The W't i^s of Maryland, whom I have the honor to address, need no proof to 
eonvmce them that calamitous consequences wouM flow from the suco-ess of this 
aecti-inal pirty. They each and all know that the election of Mr. Fremont, and 
the ad mi nisi ration of the government by h'vx\ upon the principles of his party, 
would necessarily occasion a dissolution of the federal Union, to which they have 
been tauo-ht to look as the source of national strength and of individual prosperity 
and happiness. 

I have ijnown the Whigs of my vState too long, I estimate their patriotism too 
highly, I have associated with them too intiraatrly, to suppose it necessary for a 
moment to oftec an argument to them in behalf of their country. They appreciate 
as fully as I could depi -t, the honors of .lisunion ; they will see the loss of national 
strength, the it ternal dissensions, the fatal check to civilizatioa and freedom, the 
contempt of the world, which would be the consequences of such a calamity. The 
Whigs of Maryland, who have followed the lead of such patriots as Clay and Web- 
ster, "will never keep step to any other music than that of the Union." 

It therefore only remains to inquire what course shall be taken to rebuke see- 
tional fanaticism, and preserve our country from the dangers of its success. 

You are aware that this Republican party, which we all agree must be put 
down at all hazards, is opposed by two other party organizations — the American, 
headed bv Messrs Fillmore and Donelson, and the Democranc,' led on by Messrs. 
Buchanan and Breckinridge. You will recollect that Mr Fillmore, prior to his 
recent visit to Europe, abandoned the Whig party, and became a member of the 
former of these organizations, which boasted that it had risen upon the downfall of 
the Whig party, and which proclaimed that the corruptions of the Whig and 
Democratic parties constituted the necessity of its existence. You know that he 
and Andrew Jackson Donelson have been nominated by this party (not by the 
Whig p'irl\) for the presidency and vice presidency; and you will admit that the 
principles of prosciiption, because of religious opinions, and other reputed tenets of 
this new party, are in direct antagonism with the principles of that good old Whig 
party to which we are still attached, and which has been abandoned by Mr. Fill- 
more. It is not my otgecr, in referring to these facts, to deny to the American 
party, since the secession of its abolition adherents, a fair claim to nationality ; nor 
to deny the patriotism and virtue of Mr. Fillmore, nor his eminent qualifica'ion for 
the office of Chief Magistrate. But I do deduce from them the necessary conclu- 
sion, that, as Whigs, we owe no party allegiance to Messrs. Fillmore and Donel- 
son, meiubers and nominees of the American party. I deduce the conclusion that, 
as Whigs, we are not only at liberty, but that as patriots we are bound, by every 
obligation to our country and posterity, to throw aside, on the one hand, the feel- 
ings of hostility which Mr. Fillmore's desertion of our party would be calculatedto 
engender, and," on the other hand, to forget, for the time, our former battles with 
the Democratic party, and to ask ourselves but one question — which of the two 
national organizations offers the best guarantee of success ip crushing out of exist- 
ence this new and monstrous sectional p-iity, which threatens the life of your 
country ? I do not propo.se to examine the relative claims of the two national 
parties or their nominees to our support. It is not, in my judgment, permissible, 
in the present crisis, to interpose our individual differences of opinion upon minor 
questions. It is sufficient for us to know, that the election of either natioiia! nom- 
inee would secure the Union; and the only question permitted by patriotism la, 
whether our support of the one or the other would more certainly prove successful? 

Bat before I proceed to this inquiry, having shown that no poliiical allegiance 
to Messrs. Fillmore and D melson will interpose to prevent the fair exercise of our 
judgment on that side, I propose briefly to inquire whether there _ is anything to 
prevent our support of the dcmocraric nominees, it after investigation we shall be- 
lieve that our vote in their favor would more certainly secure the safety of our 
country. It cannot have escaped your observaiion that the political principles upon 
■which the Whig and Democratic parties have battled for thirty years, with varied 



success, have been for the most part sottltd by the fiiit of tlie people, and that such 
as have nd bee-n so (lefinitely disposed of hnve bei'ii either ahaudoiic d by the on« 
or adopted by the other of those parties; so that now the rcpreseiitutive'^ of the 
people in the halls of State and federal leffi.-'lation are found indiscriiniuHtely advo- 
caiino- !iud <>ppnsin<j; the same piinoip es and measures Not only is there no 
principle t)t political antai^onism which should prevent Whigs and iHnioerats acting 
togolher for the hcnefit of their common country, but it is confidciiily submitted 
that I'pon the only vital question — that which now agitates and endangers the 
country — the two parties fully accord. The Whig and Democratic pla' forms upon 
the slavery question in 1852 were identieal; and, there being no Whig nominee* 
before the p ople, it mi'iht be suggested that consistency would rather require than 
opp^ se the support of the Democratic nominees by Whigs. The WMitrolling inquirj 
!•> the pat'iot now r-curs, ichich of the two national orf/ajiizations can. hij his vot* 
hf made most certainly successful / 

Ksery Maryland Whig will bo bound by every tie of duty to vote as his judg- 
hicnt shall decide this <piestion. 

It may not be immaterial to observe that neither of the national nominees will 
obtain throughout this broad land any votes which will not be cast by national 
conservative citizens, and it is to bo regretted that in this crisis that vote should be 
divitled between two national candidates, whilst the entire anti-national vote will 
be concentrated upon the sectional nominee. To judge of the relative suvngth of 
the two national organizations it is unnecessary to trace minutely the origin of the 
American party. It is sufficient to bring to your recollection that it was originally 
composed, North and South, of the dissatisfied members of the two old parties, and 
that in the North its original members were chiefly those who opposed the conser- 
▼ative principle upon the slavery question avowed in the platforms of the two old 
parties. It mi.Jt not escape your lecollection that upon the nomination of Messrs. 
Fillmore and Donelson a large mnjoiity of the northern delegates seceded from the 
convention, declared their intention not to support those nominees, and .subsequently 
united in the nomination of Mr. h'remoat. This separation of the sectional frora 
the national portion uf the American party has occurred in every northern Stale in 
the coufedeiacy. I dc luce from these facts the nationality of the supporters of 
Messrs. Fillmore and Donelson, and I submit th.' inquiry for the honest decisi^.n of 
those to whom this p q>er is addressed, zvkut nonslaveholding y^laWa&w this national 
branch of the American party, thus shorn of the larger portion of its original 
strength, /jro?/i/s(' its nominees^ Let the Whigs of Maryland ponder upon the view 
of this suject I have endeavored to present to their consideration, and no one of 
them will say that a single non-slavehokling State is certain for Fillmore and Don- 
eUon. Time, / think, will develop the fact that Messrs. Fillmore and Donelson 
will be left without an electoral ticket in most of the free States, and it is, at any 
rate, the delii>erate conviction of my judgment that they will not carry a single 
non-slavehokling State in the Union. If I am right, or even approximate the 
truth in the view I have taken, it will necessarily follow that any conservative vote 
for the American nomiBces North, will be equivalent to a vote for Mr. Fremont, as 
it will be a vote taken frora Mr Buchanan, his only real competitor. 

It is clear, then, that to the South alone can the friends of Messrs. Fillmore and 
Donelson look for the probable chance of an electoral vote ; and it is to the States 
of Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri that they profess to look with the 
greatest hope of success. It is manifest that, if this hope were realized, it might, 
indeed, prevent the election of Messrs. Buchanan and Breckinridge by the t)eople, 
but it would only throw the election of President into the j^resent House of Rente- 
tentative^ composed as that House now i^. Does not the election of this same 
Hou^e, after a contest of two months, of a P)Iack RepuMican Speaker, admonish us 
of the danger of such an experiment ? Wlio can d )ubt that our poliiical fabric 
would be stiaken to its very found itions by this election of President b.ing thrown 
«pon the present Ilouse of Representatives ? On the other hand, is it not certain 



bevoaii the contingency of a doubt, that the vote of the States indicated for Mr. 
Buchuiian, when added to that of the other southern States, would secure his elec- 
tion and the consequent safety of the Union ? It is obvious that in this condition 
of the canvass the only serious contest is that between Fremont and Buchanati ; that 
tha only possible result that the most sanguine ot the friends of Fillmore aiid Don- 
cison can hope to attain is to carry the contest into the House of Representatives. 
Who can conceive anything more fatal to the peace of the country, more Insane ia 
political action, than such a course of conduct, leading to such a result? Suppose 
Mr. Fillmore to reach the House of Representatives with the votes of four or five 
States, (his utmost possible strength,) no man can seriously contend that he would 
be elected President, and assuredly few would be found bold enough to assert that, 
ander such circumstances, he ought to be. The only effect, then, of giving th« 
electoral vote of any portion of the South to Mr. Fillmore would be to transfer th« 
©ontest between Mr. Buchanan and Fremont from the hustings to the House of 
Representatives ; and the danger to our country, now sufficiently menacing, would, 
in that event, be appalling indeed. "Who can contemplate the occurrence of such a 
contingency without feeling that he v/ould be a traitor to his country if he failed 
to exeit every possible eifort to avert so awful a calamity? 

I det m it, then, to be my duty, as well as that of all who believe with me that 
the election of Fremont, would be the death-knell of the Union, to unite in tile 
support of Messrs. Buchanan and Breckinridge ; and I shall sustain their electios 
to the best of my ability. Whilst I concede Uiat there are certain principles hith- 
erto professed by the party which nominated them that cannot receive our support, 
yet on the great issues of the constitutional rights of the South the platform oa 
which they stand meets my cordial approval, and is in accordance with that of the 
paity which I now address, and to whose kind favor I owe the honor of holding 
the seat I now cccupy, and which I shall cease to hold after the 4th of March next 
by the fiat of that party to which Mr. Fillmore has attached himself, and which is 
now dominant in tiie legislature of my native State. 

Let Maryland Whigs remember that the [jolitical battle now being fought is one 
©f the deepest interest to them ; that the maintenance of the cousntutional rights 
of the South is the issue tendered to the American people by the Dem-jcratie 
party, and (as the Whigs have no candidate) by that party alone ; that upon this 
issue the Republican party have staked the Union ; and in such a battle, upoo 
such an issue, they must be true to those who are doing battle in our behalf. It 
wou'd be indeed sad if, in such a contest, the conservative strength of the country 
should not be united ; it would be as strange as sad if, in such a contest, southern 
men should not be found battling shoulder to shoulder for the maintenance of their 
©■wn constitutional lights. 

In thus ac-complishing what I believe to be a duty, I shall be inexpressibly grati- 
fied if I shall find myself sustained by the approval of my fellow-Whigs, who'have 
refused to abandon either the party or the pnnciples in support of which we have 
so long and so faithfully united, and which we shall remain at periect liberty to re- 
org: nize as soon as our common elibrts .shall have succeeded in averting the perils 
that now threaten our beloved country. 

THOMAS G. PRATT. 



THE PRESERVATION OF THE UNION PARAMOUNT TO ALL PARTY 

OBLIGATIONS. 

LETTER OP HON JAMES ALFRED PEARCE. ^ 

W^ASHINGTOK, J?Jy 31, 185§. 

My dear Sir : You ask what pari, I mean to take in the coftiing presidential 
olcctio'', and what 1 think should be done by old Whigs who have never beea at- 



taclied to any other party, and wlio do not desire to enter into new political 
connexions. 

I am Wfll aware of the embarrassments to such persons which attend a choice 
among the candidates for the presidency now before the country. In my own case 
tliis einbariHssment is sensibly felt. My inclinations point one way: a sense of th« 
dutv Hrisinc; from the present dangerous condition of domestic politics leads me 
another way. 

My past relations, political and personal, with Mr. Fillmore, the confidence I 
have always reposed in his integrity and ability, the wisdom of his administration, 
and the conviction I entertain that he is a just national man and free from se*- 
tional prejudice, would induce me to prefer him to his competitors. Neither do I 
object to the sentiment of American nationality, properly limited and restrained. 
Indeed, I think that our present system has made American citizenship too cheap. 
But I did not approve the mysterious system under which the American party, of 
which he is now the representaiive, was organized ; the oaths administered t« 
members upon initiation, and the discipline of the order by which secrecy arwJ 
obedience were secured. How far all this has been dispensed with I do not know. 
Tke oiiginal plan of their organization I could not but condemn, as I do the adop- 
tion of any principle which founds a rule of political exclusion upon a diversity of 
religious faith. However modified in these respects their plan may now be, it is 
not nec-t'ssary for me to inquire. The northern wing of the party came into it, as 
I think, with purposes very different from those entertained by the rest. They 
adopted it as a cloak to schemes which all of us in Maryland condemn and detest. 
Tho necessary affiliations of that wing of the party were with the anti slavery men; 
and accordingly we find the mask now thrown off by the most of them, :ind se« 
the development of their plans in such a measure as the personal liberty bill of 
Massachusetts, which nullifies a law of Congress, violates the constitutional guar- 
antee for the recovery of fugitive slaves, and creates the fiercest and most danger- 
ous diecord between the North and the South. Their members of Congress liave 
for the most part been consolidated with the pernicious party miscalled Republicans, 
and many of the delegates to their presideniial convention have deserted to that 
motley alliance, whose triumph would be the saddest calamity that ever befel our 
Union. The comparatively small portion of the American party which remained 
after this transfer to the anti-slavery men, and which has nominated Mr. P'illmore, 
is without power to elect him, even with the assistance of southern Whigs or 
national nortliern Whigs. These, however great their personal respect for and 
confidence in Mr. Fillmore, are under no party obligations now to give him their 
support, seeing that he has become a member and accepted the nom.ination of a 
party which repudiates the Whigs; and, while they would be willing in a contest 
' with their old opponents to stand by all their political opinions to the last, they 
find ample reason in the present condition of parties, in the political anarchy which 
prevails, and in the fear of a sectional and anti slavery triumph, leading to ulterior 
consequences of tho worst sort, to consider whether it is not their duty to sacrifice 
all personal feeling and party prejudice for the sake of the Union, and to sustain th« 
nominations of the Democrats as the only means of defeating the schemes of th« 
mad agitators who rule the R^'publican party. 

The contest, it seems to me, lies between Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Fremont. Mr. 
Fillmore's friends, indeed, claim a great reaction in his favor; but I have taken muck 
pains to ascertain what his stiength is in the free States, and so tar I have not been 
able to satisfy myself tbat he can carry a single one of them. His wise and patri- 
otic conduct while President, which recommended him so strongly to the Whigs of 
tiie South, is regarded by the majority at the North as a fatal objection to him. 
It is not moderation and conciliation they desire ; they think, as one of thi'ir kad- 
«r8 said, that the time for compromises has passed. They want in the President M 
imtrumeut to punish the South for what thejr fanoy or pr«tcnd to be the aggressioms 



8' 

of the " slave power" upon the North. Mr. Fillmore is too national for this pur- 
T)ose, and he must, indeed, be cre'iulous or sanguine in the extreme who suj)poses 
that the p >litu'ians who have misguided and inflamed the northern majority will 
abandon their designs, and renounce the spoils for which they hunger atid thirst 
iust at the moment when, for the first time, they are confident of the suci-ess of the 
one and the enjoyment of the other. Mr. Fillmore's strength lies in the Whig 
States of the South. If all the southern States should give him their votes, he 
would fail in the election without such as^stance from the free States as it would 
be vain to look for. The choice, then, is between Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Fre- 
mont ; and what Maryland Whig believing as I do can hesitate ? 

I am not so unjust as to charge all the northern men who join in the support of 
Mr. Fremont with being abolitionists. There are men among them whom I hold 
in much respect, while deploring the error of judgment into which they have fallen; 
but the most active and influential of their leaders are men who from perverted judg- 
ment or inflamed pas>ioa, or, what is worse, from delibenite calculation, have de- 
termined to build up a sectional party, reckless of its peril to the Union, once so 
justly valued, but now estimated far less at the North than at the South. Mr. 
Greeley is at this moment more potential with his party than any other of its 
members. He has the benc-fit of Mr. Giddings's co-operation. Governor Chase, 
Mr. Seward, and Mr. Wilson are active and influential leaders. Their presses teem 
with the fiercest abuse of southern men and southern institutions, with the grossest 
perversions of the truth, wickedly made to inflame the northern mind. Their orators 
denounce us equally, and some do not hesitate to say that they intend or desire not 
only to restore Kansas to the operation of the Missouri restriction, but to repeal the 
fugitive slave bill, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, to interdict the 
inter State slave trade so as to prevent the owner from migrating with his domes- 
ties from one slave State to another, to prevent forever hereafter the admission of 
any new State which tolerates domestic servitude, and to hem in atid confine 
slavery within its present limits; thus continually increasing the poli;iral power 
of their section, until we shaU be too weak to resist their future eflForts to impair the 
falue of our peculiar property, and, finally, to destroy it. We do not indeed find 
all these objects laid down in the platform of their party ; and there ai'e men as- 
sociated wuh them whose designs by no means extend so far, and who, if they 
knevv the probable consequences of their success, wouli recoil from the evil associ- 
ations into which they have fallen. But, then, more moderate men are not the master 
spirits in this league of agitation, and will be powerless to stop the mischievous 
measures which I think certain to follow the success of the combination which they 
are now aiding. The tone of the press in their interest, the speeches of many members 
ef Congress and of the amateur or tors of the pa.ty, all clearly evince a determination 
to unite all the people of the tree States, if possible, m fierce and relentless hostility 
to those of the South. It is the strife of sections in which they hope to succeed ; 
and in what would their success result? Not in forming a more perfect union, not 
in estHbli.-hing justice, or insuring domestic tranquidity, all of which are among 
the declared objects of that constitution which Washington and the otliei fathers of 
the republic gave to us ; but in the jealousies, discord, and hatred inseparable from a 
party " characterized by geographical discriminations." It was against; this that 
the JFather of his Country warned us in his Farewell Address — the last legacy of 
the spotless patriot to the country he had loved aiid served so well. 

Some years ago, (in 1839,) wlien the danger of this sectional organization was 
less than it is now, Mr. Clay gave us his advice in the following words : 

" Abolitionism should no longer be regarded as an imaginary danger. The abolitionists, let 
me PUi'P' S"^, surceed in their present aim of uniting the inliabilants of the free states as one man 
tigainst I he inhaf>itrin s of the slave Slates Union on one side icill beget union on the ot'ner, and 
tilts process of reciprocal consolidation vill be attended with all the violent prejudices, embiltered 
passions, and implacabt animobilies which ever degraded or dtformed liuinan nature Virmal di*. 
80 Uiioii i)t U\a U lio" will have lyktm [jiact , whilat me forms of' lis PXISlurn e rtm lUi " * * * 
' ' One section will stand in mtnacing and Iwslile array against the other. The collision of opin- 



ionifill soonhefolloxrfdby the clafh of arms. I will not ftttempt to defcrilie ccpnea which now 
happily lie conc'fileil t'ldii our vi> w. AboiiMcni--ls ihe HPclvfs would shrinic luck in dl^'Illay 
and ixuTorat the i'i)iitem|ila'ii)n of il solateil fi.J.la, confliismtcd cities, inmilcnd mliMUitanis, 
an'l thf overthrow of the fairest fuliric of human g vernnietit that ever ro.-e to uiiimute the 
hopes of civilized man.'' 

It will be said, perhaps, (hat this is mcro declamjition ; that Mr. Clay's fervid 
spirit gave too warm a coloring to the picture; but we need only remark the pas- 
sionate vii^lenc.e which characteriz'-s men who have lately yielded to this sectional 
phrensy to satisfy ourselves what i:i the temper natural to such organizations. At 
the convention in Philidelphii, held by those who nominated Mr. Fremont, a con- 
spicuous and diatinguishfd gentleman, lieretofore considered moderate and con- 
servative, made a speech, in which, amidst cheers and cries of "good," he spoke 
as follow^s : 

"They 'meanine; tiioso who appointed the members of the convention) osic us to give them 
a nomniatitin which, wli' n put f-irly before the people, will unite public uentiment. and, 
thrinii:h the ballot-box, will restrain and repel this cro-fluvery cxtensio i, and this (:ggre-8ion 
of the slaveocracy. VVhai else are they d 'in»? They tell you ih;it ihey are willinj; lo abide 
by theballot-box, and willioij tomike that the last oppral. Jf we fail there, v/lmt then.-* We 
wtl' drive it back, sword in hand, and, so help me Gi'd, I am with them." 

It is true that the author of these remarks has since publicly avowed that he 
alone is responsible for this rhapsody. But it cannot be doubted that the feeling 
which prompted him was the same which animated the preacher who proposed to 
supply the brethren in Kansas with bread, and poivdcr too, and which has stimu- 
lated other preachers and their congregations to subscribe Sharpe's ritles as the 
most efficacious instrument in the adjustment of the controversies in that Territory, 
■which all good meu deplore, however they may differ as to the causes of the un- 
happy anarchy which prevails there. For myself, I acknowledge my duty to re- 
dress, so far as I can, all the real grievances complained of in that region ; and I 
have supposed that the bill recently pass* d by the Senate was well calculat»-d to 
remedy them, because it proposes to enact that no law shall be made or have 
force or etfect in said Territory which shall recjuire a test oath, or oath to support 
any act of Congress or other legislative act, as a qualification for any civil office or 
public trust, or for any employment or profession, or to serve as a juror or vote at 
an election, or which shall impose any tax upon or condition to the exercise of the 
right of suffrage by any qualified voter, or which shall restrain or prohibit the free 
discussion of any law or subject of legislation in the said Territory, or the free ex- 
pression of opinion thereon by the people of said Territory; and secures, as far as 
law can secure, the operation of the public will in the formation of a State govern- 
'nent. That this bill was sincerely meant to effed its avowed purpose I am quite 
confident ; and I believe that there are conservative men at the North, who do not 
yield to prejudice or passion, who will credit this assertion. Unfortunately, they 
are not the majority. At all events, in the most of the free States the masses of the 
Republican party are led by mea who do not mean to be satisfied with any legisla- 
tion which is not to result in placing the government under their control ; by men 
who say that the framers of the constitution " made a compromise that cannot be 
mentioned without shame ;" who say of Mr. Fillmore, in allusion to his signing the 
fugitive-slave bill, " better far had he never been born — better for his memory, and 
for the name of his children, had he never been Piesident ;" who declare that bill 
to be " one of the immortal cataK-guesof national crimes," and that he who signed 
it thereby "sunk into the depths of infamy ;" who pronounce the fugitive slave to 
be "one of the heroes of the age," and the master who demands bim a "vile 
slave-hunter," whom all men should look upon with contempt, indignation, and ab- 
hor/ence ; men who do not regard the constitution, and the laws made in pursu- 
ance of it, as the supreme law of the land ; who disregard the decisions of that 
high tribunal whose office it is to decide constitutional questions; who claim to set 
up their individual opinions against the official ones of the judical authorities, and 
reter their obligations, not to the instrument which they have sworn to support, 



10 

which is at ouce the bond and the principle of onr Union, but to some "higher 
law," whose foundations are to be found in thtir own fanatical imaginations. 
Some of the Itaders go further stiil, and consider slavery as a wrong so transcend- 
ant that it must not only be limited to its present bounds, but must be abolished 
alto'o-ether. We see the efitcts of this in the increasing restiveness of a part of our 
r>oi:)ulatioD, in the often-repeated escapes or our servants from the mildest form of 
servitude ever known, and in the ready acceptance of the recommendation not to 
hesitate at theft, robbery, and murder, if need be, to accomplish their flight. From 
this condition of things 'we can expect no relief if the anti-slavery party succeed in 
the election of Mr, Fremont. To defeat their nomination seems to me to be our first 
duty, and greatest interest, and, therefore, I am ready to adopt that candidate who 
appears most likely to accomplish this purpose. 1 add, as showing the extreme 
designs of the anti-slavery zealots, the following remarks, reported as having been 
made lately by Mr, Wendell Phillips. Speaking of the Republican party, he says : 
"It is the first sectional party ever organized in this country. It does not know ils own 
face. It calls itself national ; but it is not national ; it is sectio al ; it is the North arrnyed 
against the Suuth. Henry Wilson said to me, ' We must get every northern State m onier to 
efect H're>riont!' It was a distinct recognition of the fact that the Republ can party is a party 
of th« North plfdi,'ed against ihe Soutu. Tr.eodiire Parktr wanted to know once wh re dis- 
union would begin? l"wiil tell him— just where that patty divides; that is, a nnrthern party 
against she souihern. I do not call it an anti-sLivery party ; it has not risen to that yet. Its 
first distinct recoi^nition was Banks's elecdon." 

I have no idea that this is to be considered as showing the general purpose of 
the Republican party, but I am well satisfied that such opinions are growing in the 
North, under the constant teachings of such apostles as Mr. Phillips, and this 
speech shows the tendency of present events. 

I have beeti politically opposed to the Democratic party for so many years that 
I cannot without reluctance contemplate the necessity of supporting their nominee. 
Yet it must be admitted that he is a man of abilities and large public experience ; 
that he has been just to the South, though not assuming to bo a northern man 
with southern principles ; that his inclinations are generally conservative ; that he 
numbers amono- his prominent supporters many gentlemen of talents and patriotic 
character, entitled not only to the confidence ot their party, but to influence with 
the country at large; and that many of the old issues between the Whigs and the 
Democrats are obsolete. Two objections to him are much relied on by his oppo- 
nents in the South. It has been alleged that he countenanced and promulgated 
the charge of bargain and corruption against Mr. Clay in the election by the House 
of Representatives in 1825. 1 should denounce him for this as readily and as se- 
verely as any one if I thought this allegation just. But I remember that this 
charge against Mr. Clay was made without any direct testimony until 1827, when 
the Carter Beverly letter led to Mr. Buchanan's being named as a witness; and 
that he then promptly denied the statement which he was relied on to prove, and, 
at the risk of losing Gen. Jackson's favor and that of bis party, exonerated Mr. 
Clay. From the letter which he then published I extract the foUowing passage : 

" I owe it to my own character to make another observation. Had I ever known or even 
suspected that Gen Jackson relieved 1 had been sent to him by Mr. Clay or his fiirnda, I should 
have immeuiately corrected his erroneous impiession, and thus prevenied the necessity for 
this most unp Cdsant explanation. When the ediior of the Unittd Slates Telegraph, on the 
12ih of October last, asked me by letter for information on this subject, I promptly informed 
him by the returning mail, on he Itiih of that month, that ) had no authoiity from Mr Clay 
or his friends to piopose any teans to Geneit-.I Jackson in relation to their votes, nordid I ever 
Make any such propositions ; and that 1 trusied I would be as incapable ot biconnng a mes- 
senger upon such an occasiun as it was known General Jackson would be to receive such a 
mtBbage. 1 have deemed it neceasary to make this statement in order to remove any miscon- 
ception which n.ay have been occasioned by the publication in the Telegraph of my letter t» 
the editor, dated the lith ultimo." 

Again, in 1828, in a speech delivered in the House of Representatives, Mr. Bu- 
diauan declared that he had no knowledge of the bargain and corruption charged 
<m Mr. Clay. These disaYowals may ba considered as merely cold justice to the 



Hi 

great and incorruptible Whig leader, hut surely they contradift most flatly the 
charge cf being his "tradu<-er and tK'fauior." If further pro(;f were neeilcd, it 
may be found in tinj followiug remarks recently made in Kentucky by Mr. James 
B, Clay, his son : 

"M'- Clay then proceded to nrpe upon his old Whi^ friends, t'le con,p;ininna .ind constitu- 
ents of his f'athtT, t(i r.illy around that liminor wh i-h hft im.l spei}! Iiis life in n^i/ioWiii;,'-— the ban- 
ner of ih'' Union. Ho was rrady lo follow the Whig h>u daid hs tiie Dou^^ias fjllowt-.l ihe 
heart of Bnicp— as long us it waved. Bui thai fldg wan no longer to lie seen on the baltle-^eld. 
It might yet be u f .rled. After death, ihfro was the rfsurreotion But at pre.sont there wa-tno 
Whig orKatiiz.ftii.in, and the only parly of the Union v/as that of which Buchanan and Breckin- 
ridge wre liie candnlii c.-^ 

" Mr. Cay left-rieil to ihp attempt to i nplirate Mr. Buchanan in the charge of hargmn and 
corrup'ion O-i tlint suject he propo.'scd to lake the tr.stiniony of his own father, uim hit read 
from Mr Clay's letter t'l .^how that Mr Buchanan had ronducud liHn.scif in that nfTnr an a 
man cf iruth tind honiT. He should behevo whut his fa'her snid before others. Re-idea the 
CTidence he h^j.! rmd, there was other te.^timony hearing on the same point. In feeling and 
eloquent turns he n ff rred to the heavy wc-ighi of ihai charge against his father, and bow gal- 
lanily . nd bravely he had borne it. Tli^nk G >il, it died before ili^^ father! and now he was 
proud to say that ibcie livel not the iritin who would whisper it. But Mr. Buchanan was frte 
Irom all connexion wiih the maiter. 

"Mr. Clay cone u.ied with an eloquent appeal to his fellow-citizcns, e^^pecially old-line 
Whigs, to gi»e ihcir cordial support to the Union ticket — to Buchanan and Breckinridge." 

The next grt^at objection is. that Mr. Buchanan would be unsafe in his manatye- 
ment of our foreign atl'airs. I readily admii tliat I do not like the Ostend paper, 
and I do not approve certain resolutions adopted by the Cincinnati Convention, 
notwithstanding the unanimous opposition <-f llie Virginia and Maiyland deleaates, 
and, I believe, ot others; and if he should adi.])t the aggressive policy supposed to 
be prescribed by that paper and the resokitions, I should be as ready and as earnest 
ia my opposition to him as any one. But he is a man of known caution, which, 
with his intellijient comprehen.'-ioc of the true interests of the United States, and 
the responsibility of the presidential office, which he could not but recognise, would 
forbid his urging the country upon a course of aggression inconsistent with the 
spirit of our government, faithless to treaties, violative of the rights of other nations, 
and destructive of our own peace, honor, and concord. I know that many of the 
leading men of his own party are sound and reliable in this respect; and I believe 
that their conservative influence would harmonize with his own disposition. I am 
the more assured of this, because I observe that in his letter of acceptance, there is- 
no recognition of the resolutions, (which were not considered by the convention as 
forming a part of the platform ;) but, on the contrary, a prudent and conservative 
tone, wliieh met with the approbation of even the judicious and experienced editors 
of the Natioual Intelligencer, themselves, ^;^/r fj-cc//f'«re, the foes of all fillibusterinT. 
In an editorial article, noticing Mr. Buchanan's letter of acceptance, they said : 

"We may Pay however, that Mr. Buchanan's official letter of arcepianoe, while not ex- 
pressly reo'idiating the extreme and exceptionable doclrincp loistf d inio the Demorr<itic con- 
fessions- of faiih by ihe Cincinna i Convention, do< s yei, by it.-i ppuit and tone, incliue us to 
hope ttat he niean^, if elected, so to construe those doctrines as to disarm them o' their mis- 
«hievou.s significanc *> d evil tendency. Indeed, vre can give no other meaning thnn this to 
Mr. Bucharai.'s (lecla ation, when he pays that he accepts the ' residulions conFtituting ihe 
platform of princii les eieded by the convention' in the same spirit as that which promp'Ii his 
acceptance, of the noinn ation tendered to him by his party— gftp»»'-/, a dsire so to d.'tcharge 
Ihe duties of the high r ffice to which he aspires as ' to a lay Oomesiic strife, preserve peaee and 
friendship wUh foreign nalions, and promote the best inleiesta of the republic' " 

At present the prospect is, that the conservative Whig vote will be so divided as 
to defeat a popular election, and throw the decision upon the House of Repre^eata- 
tiyes — at all limes an event to be deprecated, but at this period peculiarly per- 
nicious at.d dnngerou*, and threatening the rude.st shock to our system. What the 
result will be, I will not venture to predict, but I will »ay, that I do not see the 
least probability of Mr. Fillmore's election by the House of Representatives. I 
think, therefore, it would be the part of wisdom and patriotism in the Wl)ig.e, (by 
wliich I mean those who hav-Q affiliated with no other party,) to throw their votes 



12 

for Mr. Bucbanan, as the ptrongest of the candidates opposed to the northern sec- 
tional party. This they may do without renouncing their old political faith, with- 
out Slain of honor or suspicion of aposlacy. The moiive beins? the integrity of the 
Union — the defeat of a party which is founded on geographical discriniinations, 
and bound togeihei' by dangerous sectional schemes — ihe act will be vindicated by 
disinterested patiiotiwin. 

For my part, I shall not abjure mv political creed, and, having in view but the 
one object which I have stated, I shall hold myself ready to take any other course 
■which may be necessary to effect that object. Shopld the hopes of Mr. Fillmore's 
friends be realized ; should it appear that he is more likely to carry the great body 
of the patriotic, but quiet people, who generally come to the rescue in times of 
pubic peril; that he is, in short, the best able to subdue this storm of sectional 
passion and prejudice, I shall rejoice to see him again filling the chair of State. 
But I will not aflect an unalloyed gratification ; for I cannot forget that he is the 
eanuidate of a party which has proscribed Whigs who were not members of "the 
order" — of a party which boasted that it had risen on the ruins of the Whig and. 
Democratic parties, and which has pronounced both of them corrupt. 

Whatever the result, I shall be content if the dangerous excitement which 
threatens our peace and union can be calmed down, so that the extreme opinions, 
which have their roots in prejudice and passion, may wither away. Then a libe- 
ral forbearance and kiadly toleration of different sentiments may resume their influ- 
ence. If this carnot be done — if the South and the North are to regard one 
another as enemies — then, sooner or later, t ur " house, divided against itself," must 
fall. Then we shall have to say with Pantheus — 

Venit summa dies et ineluctahile tempus 
Dardanice. 

But ours will be a sadder fate that that of Priam's empire; for it was not tha 
Dardanian people by whom the inevitable doom of Troy was fixed. A foreign foe 
beat dc'wn her lofty walls, and destroyed the high renown of Teucer's race; but we 
shall fall by our own suicidal hands ; we will kiudle the flames which shall destroy 
the edifice of our constitutional Union ; ourselves will break the bonds of harmo- 
nious interest and fraternal concord which have held us together as one people. 
May Heaven inspire us with wisdom to avert so sad a catastrophe! 
Very truly, my dear sir, your friend, 

JA8. ALFRED PEARCE. 
Hon. J. R. Franklin, 

Snoiv Hill, Maryland. 



ONE MORE BLOW FOR THE UNION— A WORD FOR CIVIL AND 
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY— AN ENTIRE EXPLOSION OF THE BARGAIN 
AND INTRIGUE SLANDER. 

SPEECH OF JAMES B. CLAY. 

Delivered at the Union Meeting in Mason County, Kentucky, July 28, 1856. 

Mr. Clat being called for, was introduced to the assemblage as an old-line Whig, the son of 
Henry Clay. He said : 

Ladies and gentlemen, fdlow-citizens of Mason county : I present myself before you on this 
occasion utiiltr circumrtances ptculiar and extraordinary. A candidate for no office in the gift 
•f the people, 111 bad health, 1 havt-lefirav home and rny occupation as an humble, plain furmer, 
at the request of those in whose names. 1 recogn'se old Whigs and Democrats, to come htre to- 
day to cast in my mile and to strike one blow for the Union, 'n all th s vast assembh-gf ther« 
are perhaps not more than half a dozen persons who have ever seen me before, and not that 
number with whom 1 have the least personal acquaintance. You have all of you, however. 



115 

heard my name ; ami nil of you hnve hivini th"* vilest charges madi a^ninst me, designed and 
eaJculiited to destroy wh'iipvcr litile iiifluen. e I imghi hapucn trt poss'-ns ns an mdividu ■!, nnd 
to ta' e from nic t'^e rnntiileiice nnd respect of my fallow ii\<"ii. I • avr licpn rienoiinci'il as f ilse 
to tlin memory of my fiiher, and ns n rctiptjnde to hix prmi-iple-^. Fellow-fiiize's, 1 w.-is liorn 
within a Htone's throw of the capitol, in iht- very hnnse in wliir.h my fnthrr di'd. Ivlucated 
under Ins rare, the snme shnilfs of Ashlan I in which he so much d«lit;hfed, and under which 
he had somi> of his nobhst i>s "irntiooM, gave shelter to m* in inv youthful Hiyn. I ihimk God 
that, l)v my own exertions, 1 have l>een able t<> presf-rve that ^pot in his fdojily. In iny '' ore 
mature mmihood I was the rnmpnnio", the partner, the irn.'tpd friend of my father. Thus 
aducatid and thus as^'^c aied, to be a Whip; became a part of my nature. I am now a Whig, 
and I cxpi'"i to die a Whiij, ns I havi^ livid. 

Ffllow citiz'Mis. you hive heard the chiTgrs ;'nd calumnies against me. I am now before 
you, fitc." to face, and you can jud^e for y mrselves whether I have the coiintenance of u f Iss 
and insiinere man. "I'here i" no' one diop of false blood courfinf; iluoiigh my veins. Nunpbers 
of you t.eie pi-e>>pnt r>re old enough to renieinl'er the II ver Rai in, nnd tli.it bloody day, when 
all Kei.tiicky was clotiiei) in monrnin;?. O le of my lace, on ihiii disiisirous orrasion, p mred 
out his liic's blood for his country. All ofyu hive heaid of Biieiin Vis'a, and how my loblc 
brother, covered wiih a hnndrf d wounds, upon his back, surround d by enemies, so loiif; us his 
feeble irm cool i rai-e his sword, ba tiel for ttie h^nor and gl ry of the Union and of his naiive 
Ken Ufky. N me of you cm h ivo forgot'en that fiinpral cortege, which, leaving Washiiii;ton 
city, pa<-ing ihn ugh half the Union, arrived at Ashland, amid the nation's tear.-< and gri>-!' — a 
patri'it wus brought home to be laid under 'he green <od of th-^ luid *'hir.h ha-lso ho 'ond hni, 
and upon which he h.-id r- fleeted so moch honor. Fellow cmzt-ns, this is my nn-.e — ihese were 
tny people — and with their memories alw lys present aod clustering around nie, I appeal to you 
to know whether it is possible for me to be false or insincere. 

E I'ly in I ist year, f llow-c tizens, it was apparent lo all men that the Whig party, as a-i oi^ 
gariz- I pii'ty, was gone. The seeds of its fill were sown in 18J0, when the plane of a mi ilu-y 
chie't lin was permititd to dazzle men's 'yes But in 1848, when adcp'i g the .:oi'irini- that 
availability and success were rather to be lo ked to than riglu, in lien of iluit noble idea 'h.a it 
was belter to be right th n be President, the Convention of Phi'adelphia set the seal npon the 
fate of ihe party. Refu ing t > reassert a platform of Whig principirs, it select' d General Taylor 
as i's cimdidaie for the Presidency upoi the siigle idea of his aval ability. The harnl-wriiing 
was as plainly upon the wall as at Belshazzar's feast. The Whig party broken up, d s Tgan- 
ized, .=ind a( parentlv bo(ielps.sly so ; old-iine Whigs betan to ask ihen selves the quesiion which 
once ihe immorial Sige of IMarshfield propounded hin.self, ''Where am I to go .'" Jlon ora 
came to us of a new pa'ty which was said already to have attained vast streniith, even while 
manv doubted its verv exis'ence. Serrei and mysterious, it was reputed, lil<e Minerva fiom 
the brain of Jove, to have .sprung foith fully arme I. Its pnrpo.ses were said to be the intro- 
duction of a purer and bfferstite of things in politics, and the i;ood only of the c untry. 

Seeing ninny of my old Whig associa es attaching themselves to it, I was told it was but 
Whi;;gpry in di.'iiju'.'^e, and that it only ditlered from the old Whig party in seeking a modifi- 
cation of the natural zation laws. I had myself always thought ihat some n^odificalion "Ught 
to be " adi; of those laws, and that greater s.ifeg lards -ught to be p'aced around the elective 
franchise 1 wa-i told that i's secrrsy, which was abhorrent to my na'ure, was only to con- 
tinue until the party got fairly under way, when everything would be made open and public. 
Deceived by m- n in whom 1 had < very confidenre, I thought it to be my duty to join this new 
party I nre-ented myself for admission intt) the order. Dn not be dnceiv--(l — I iliil not get 
in. The first questions that were propounded to me astonished and .startled me They were 
in subsiai ce these ; I do not pretend to quote the very words: Wh<>re v,as I born.= The pace 
of my residence.' Was I twenty-one years of "ge? Wms I a llom.in Cathoiic' Were mj 
parents Protesiarits? Was my wife a Roman Catholic' W is I willing to oppose f t a I offi- 
ces of honor, trust, or profit in the gift ot'the people, ah for.;ignrr.-i an 1 tiomui Catholics? 

Fellow-c tZ' ns, 1 am not telling you untruths. I declare to you upon my honor, and in the 
presence ofG' d, that I believe these to be subrtantiaily the qu-slions which were proposed tJ 
me ; and I appeal to those members of the so-called American party, who m-iy be present, to 
answer wh> t^er I have not stated truly the obligations under which they plaefd themselves in 
the early part of 18.i5, whatever m ly now be the doctrines of th ir p irty, which I do not pre- 
tend to know. I do not expect them to answer me, but I ilo expel ih-^m, when thev go to 
their own ho'ues, to make answer to their own consciences whether I have not spok<-n the 
truth. Sho'ke't and startled, I requested the presiding offic- r to read again the obligation 
against foreijiners and CHthoiic.i. It was done, and an alle ■ pt ma'le to explain away the force 
of the clear meaning of the words o' the ohiiga ion. I observed that I h.»d been m'stak'n and 
deceived PS to the purposes f the party, or my shadow would never have darkened their door. 
I took my hat and wished them good morning. 

Fellow-citizens, there was oner in the middle ngfs a polit cal society in Europe, and rspe- 
cially in Germany, ral'ed the Illuminali; one of its practices was that when an indivi.lual be- 
came partially or fully i' itia'ed, and afterward disclosed any of is secrets, two alter atives 
were offerd t • the wret< hed vi. tim— a cord and a dagger were secretly placed by i'i» bedside, 
and he might either hang himielf or put hims-U" to death wiih the d'g-er; if he chose neither 
of the del gliitul alternilives, his nearest re ation, even his own b other, it a member oF ihe 
society, whs bound to take his life. Fellow -citizens, ail secret political societies are alike. In 



14 

this age, sines letters and the press are cnme about, the cord and the dagger are no longer 
used ; a venal press affords a fitr more pett-nt weapon, and more vindictive pun shment By 
lal.sehoo t, by calumny, by libel and detraction, not only may the heart of the victim himself 
be torn in pieces, but the feelings of his wife, his mother, his children, of his whnle family, are 
reached ai d lacerated for vengeance' sake. Fellow-citizens, such persecution I myself hare 
undergone, and you know it. 

I could not reconcile it to my conscience to become a Know-nothing, because 1 believed the 
principles of the party to be ariiag'nistic to civil and religious liberty, and dar.gerous to our 
republican institutions. Throwing out a banner inscrit^ed "Americans only shall rule Ameri- 
ca," they app-ared to me like the veiled Piophet of Khorassan, who, concealing his horrible 
visage behind a silver vail, erected shrines — 

" Where faith may mutter o'er her mystic spells, 
Written in blood, and Bigotry may swell 
The sail he spreads for Heaven with blasts from Hell." 

I could not become a Know-nothing. " Where shall I go?" Fellow-citizens, I turned my 
thoughts back to the old pp.rty of my father. I knew its principles to be true; some of its 
practicfs h.id been bad; but I believed its principles, once true, they must always bg so, for 
truth cannot die. They told me that th'^ party was dead, but I believed it was only after death 
that the rfgurrection could come. In concert with some of my Whig bretireo, we deiermined to 
strive afer its resurrection. There wa^ no met titgcallii g 'tself Whig in a'l my retion of coun^ 
try which I did not attend. There was no cinvemion at which I was not pre.seni. Every effort 
to rei'U.>citate the old pa ty which could be made was made. The result was the Convention at 
Louisvil'e on theSd of July. It was then reeoived to be inexpedient to present Wnig randi- 
dates fir the highest offices for the sutT ages of the people ; and it was neiermined that, having 
asserted our old principles, it was proper that each individual should be left free to make his 
own ehoice according to his own conscience and his own principles, for the good of his country. 

Fellnw-cnizens, I have followed the Whig standaid so long as it fluttered in the breeze. I 
•would have followed it always, and 1 always expect to maintain Whig principles. Like an 
eloquent Old-line Whig of Mis.-:ourj, now acting with the Democrats, " I have surveyed the 
whole hattle-field, but I Sad no Whig banner under which to fight." Like him, I am forced to 
the conviction that the old Wing fl-ig !ies furled upon the tomb of my father. 

Fellow-cifizens, the country is in danger. In 18"20 our wisest and best statesmen told us 
thert- was great danger from the question of slavery. For the purpose of putting it e.t rf st the 
so-called Viissouri Comprotnise w.is made, but it did notsettle the question. Again, in '849-50, 
it raised its horrid front. Fortunately for the country, at that time there were then at Washing- 
ton men of a giant race, who could see and ap,.reciate the danger, and warn the country of it. 
Do you not recollect hov/ the black cloud sat like a leaden pall upon the hearts of men — how 
the bravest trembled for the Uiion.' Do you not remeoiber widi what anxiety all eyes were 
turned to Washington — v/ith what trem'i ing eagf rne.-^s you listened 'or every scrap of news? 
At the Nst tidings came that the Compromise Measures of 1850 had been passed, although in de- 
tail. Have you forgotten the rejoicings throughout the whole land? How ihe bells rung, and 
the glad shouts went up to Heaven in giatitude that their country was safe? How vain and 
how fuiile were the hopes of the br^s' and wise.'^t of men. Scarcely are some of the principal 
actoisin those noble scenes cold in their grave.? when again the black cloud upon us. The 
country is in danger. The Black Republicans of the North, detfermined to carry out th'-ir de- 
signs against the S uth at all hazards, and at every risk, have noniinatetl purely sectional can- 
didates for the Presidency and Vice Presidency. North against South — uni n or dissolution — 
this IS the quf-stion now before you, and you cannot avoid it. It is not I alone who teiis you so. 
Americans, as you choose to call yourselves old-line Whigs, it is Mr. Fillrnore also who tells 
you so. Hear what he says in his .-Albany speech, recently delivered — a speech so patriotic 
and honorable to him: 

I " Sir, you have been pleased to say tl at I have the union of these Slates at heart. Tiiis, sir, 
IS mo-;t true, for if there be one object dearei to me than any other, it is the unity, prosperity 
and glory of this great Republic ; and 1 confess frai.kly, sir, that I fear it is in danger 1 say 
nothing of any particular stction, much less of the several candidates before the people. I 
presume they are all honorable men. But, sir, what do we see? An exasperated feeling be- 
twefji the North and South, on the most exciting of all topics, resulting in bloodshed and or- 
ganized militiry array. 

" But this is not all, sir. We see a political party presenting candidates for the Presidency 
and Vice Pief^idency, selected for the first time from the free States alone, with the avowed pur- 
pose of electiig those candidates by the suffrages of oi.e part of the Union o^ ly to rule over 
the whole of the United Sates Can it be possible that those who are engaged in sueh a mea- 
sure could have seriously reflected upon the consequences which must inevitably follow in case 
of sur<e.ss? [Cheers.] Can they have the madness or folly to believe thit our Southern 
brethre I would submit to be governed by sueh a Chief Magistrate? [Ciep'S.] Would he be 
required to follow the rule prescribed by those who elected him in making his appomtmenta? 
If a man 'iving south of Mdson and D xon's line be not worthy to be Presii'ent or V^e Presi- 
dent, would it be proper to sehct ooe from the same quarter as one of his Cabinet Counril, or 
to repretent the nation in a foreign country ? or, indeed, to collect the revenue or administer 



15 

the laws of the United States ? If not, what new rule is the President to adopt in selecting men 
for office? 

" Thppeare serious, hut prarticil qucstioni, an'l in or'ler to a'^prpciato ih^m fiillv. it ia only 
neces»nry to turn the taltlrs upon on se'vps. Suppice that the South, hnvme a m^j'^riiv oT ihe 
eleotora! vote*, should dcrlare thnt thev would only hnvo alnvrhoIfUrn fo-- Preai'lont a"d Vice 
Pre»i<lpnt. and ahonlil plrct such hy their Pxc.'usivn sufTrai^R"' 'o rule over us «■ the North ; do 
you think vv would su'imit to it ? Nn, not for a mnnien'. [App'anpc ] And do you IipIipvc 
that your s^outhprn hrpthrpH are Ip--s aenoitive on thja Huliirrf tluin v"u are. or le^s j'-nlous of 
thrirri?h's? [rppmendoiia cheering] If you «lo, let me tp|l you that voii iirp mislnkpn. 
And, therpfore. you mui=t spp th -i if this sciional party ruccecds, it j.ads itevituMv to tlip il«- 
struction of this beautiful fnliric, reared by our forefathers, cemented by their blood, and be- 
queat''p(i to us as a prieelpss inheritanee. 

•' I tell you, my friends, tliat I speak warmly on this suhjecf, for I feel that we are in dnneer. 
I am determine'' to mnke a clean breast of it. I will wash my hands of the consequtneca, what- 
ever they may be ; and I tell yon thit we are trending upon the brink of a Tolcano that is lia- 
ble nt any moment to hirst forth a'ul overwhelm the nation. I might by soft words lio'd out 
delusive hopes, nnd there.by wi" votes, but I never cnn consent t'i be one thing to the North 
and another to the South. I "shonld des ise myself if I could be guilty of such evasion " 

I beiievp every word that Mr. Fil'more sa"s. .'7s surely as the nun shines the country is in 
danfcer. I have n high respect for Mr. Fillmore, and if he stood preci.se'y where he did in 
1850, I should prefer him to any man for the presidency. Even is it is. personai'v I prefer 
him to either of the other candidutfs. Rut, fellow-citizens, there is no living man whom I 'ove 
so well as I do that great union of StUes — my onntry — for which my father 51 ve his life. 
Mr. Fillmore ha* given us good advice — advice which accords with my own j'l'lgment ; he 
tells us that the Union is in imminent danser; he 'eids us to beli've that the pribabiliiies are 
that if '^''r. Fiemont is elected, the Union will be dissolved, nnd no- into two pnrts but shivered 
into fragment*! OM-Jinc- Whi^s, what is 'ur duty? It lies with us to save the Union. The 
candidates of the Black Hefiublicfin p^vty must be defentedj else, as M"-. Fi'lmo'C tcMs Uf* — aa 
we have been told '■•y the f;;rertest s'atesmen since 1820 — the Union is in dire and imminent 
peril. For me I nm for the preservnti'm of th'- Union. Dcs'roy all the parties now in exist- 
ence, hut for God's sake — for the snke of human liberty — save the U'u'on. 1 have no faith in 
the sincerity of thit man who, with his mouth full of pro'estnt'ons of love for his cnuntry, and 
for the memory of my deul fa'her, C4nniit l.iy h's personal prejudices and predilections upon 
the nllar a wi'ling ."sacrifice for the salvation of his country. 

How are "P to defeat Fremont ? We cannot elec both his opponents. Neither of them, 
neither Mr Fillmore nor Mr. Bii'hanan, is> prpsenf-d for the suffrage of the Ol'l-Mne Whigs 
upon a pure Whig platform. There are principles avowed and maintiincl by bnih the parlies 
of which they are rf=prpi=eTtatives, which we do not ni>prove. It is neccsi'a'y for ns to choise 
between them, whichever is most I ke'y to defeat the B'ack Republican conrlida'e ; and in making 
the choice it i? not necessary for u^ to endorse or to L'ive in our adhesion to the pr nciple* which 
either represent. I believe that the Union would be safe with either, and it is our duty to save 
the Urion, if we c- n. The question for us is r'solve) into n mere question ofrha* ces, which 
is the most like'y to succeed nccoding roour best light. Mr. Fillm' reor Mr. Buchanan.' 

Fellow-citizens. I have made my choice Looking over the whole country, not confining my 
view to my own St Ue, or to m v ow 1 locality — not suff' rt'ng myself to he influerced by ^artisan 
journals or partisan orator's — I am delibpra'ely convmce) that Mr. Fil'more h-is not the least 
chance of success, and that if it b'* at a'l possihle to defeat Frf moot, the Democratic party, with 
their candidaf's Buchar an and Br^ckinr•idge, with the aid of the Union-loving Old -line Whigs, 
is the only p:irty which has the least chance to do so. Show me a State certain or nearly cer- 
tain for Fillmore, and I will show you two for Buchanan I hold in my hind authentic results 
of the last elections, from which alor e we cm form reliable conclusio- s. From these it apoears 
that while twelve of the sonth-rn Stites are almost certain for Buchanan, Mr Fillmore has, at 
the best, but doubtful chan'es for the remaining three. Thus, Mr. f-uchanan pre ents hi'i.jielf 
with almost the whole South in so'id phalanx. At the North his count of States is to the full 
as good, and m my opinion much better than Mr. Pillmore's ; besides, we Whigs know well, 
and to our cost, the wonderful tenacity of the Democra'ic party, how it has held together antl 
had success when we most -.■•nfid'^ntly expected its defeat. 

1 know, fellow-Whigs, how difficult it is for you to get rid of old prejudices, either of at- 
traction or of repu'sion. I have not forgotten, however, that upon a q'lestion of mere availa- 
bility, the Whigs of Kentucky were able, through their del-gati'S at Phila''elphia, in 184'^, to 
give their idol — the man whom they loved, and who loved them, and who has done so much 
for the honor of Kentucky, that wh'-never Kentucky's name was mentioned, at home or 
abroad, his name at once arose befop' the mind'^i eye, aorl whenever hi.i na ne was memionsd 
Kentucky appeared. Fello A-Whigs, do you love Mr. Fillmore so much lielter than you did 
Henry CI -y, that you raim'it make the sime sacrifice of your predilections for the one that 
you did for the other upon much ess occasion .' 

But, fellow-citizens, 1 am ofien ask'd how it is possible that I, my father's son, can recon- 
cile it to myself to vote for VIr. Buchanan who, they say, had so seriously injure! nnd wronged 
my tather by originating, or. if not originating, by h ing compli'-atel with atid m'xed up in 
someway or other with thai vile old ctiarge of barg.»m and intrigue betwixt him nnd Vlr. 
Adams, in nine cases out of ten the persona who in my presence refer to that affair know abso- 



lately nothing: about it ; and when I refer them to LIBRARY' OF ^[^||'^!'^,,,,,,., |h preju- 
diced, ani love to be pr^-judiced too well, to allow |l||||l|llll||lllill||llll|lillll|^ kamina- 
li..n I have fully and carefully ^tu•lied the whole l|l||l||||||ll slander, 
■with the exp-ess purpose of ascertaining the truth r l|l|ll||| W *'^r- Bu- 
chaniin, and the result of my research has bee i, tr |lil 111 11 III 1 1 11^ > arquit 
him of having had any pa.t in the origin.jl slandn, |1I1II1I111IIII11J»^^^^ ■...vong, 
when he wa-- sumi.none'! before the public as a witn 011 898 ZOS? ' ^'^u'tlim 

upon the testiir.o' y of the very psrson v^hom he ^^ to nave w^ronged and slandi^red, 

and h 'Wever little partisan edimrfc and partisan orators may esteem the evidence of n y f. ther 
himself, it is ai>un(lant:y sufficient for me, his son. The charge of ba 'gam and intrit.'ue was 
first ma 'e by Vir Kreraer, in an an mvirious leter, sub^pquently reiteratrd by Cirtpr Bt^verly, 
in his celebr.ited F yet^eviile I'-fer, and fin .Ily assertfd by Ge 'eral Jackson, who a-isu.ned the 
res()onsibdity of it. and to prove its rrutn sunmoned Mr. Bu 'hanin before the publi'^. as his 
only wit'ipss Mr. Buchanan prompty responded to the call for his testimony. Did he sus- 
tain Mr. Kremer, Carter Beverly, and Gen ral Jackson, the last of whom had summoned 
hiiti? On the contrary, his evidence was elear and disfin t, and fully exculpated Mr. Clay from 
the charges made against nim So Mr. Clay regarded it hi nself, and he, the person accused, 
testified, public y an 1 privatelv, that he consi<lered Mr. Buchanan ^ad done him no wrong. I 
read to you, from Coltori's Private Correspondence of my faiher, his private letter to his old friend, 
Judae Brooke, of Virginia — the friend it h\» life-time — a leit-r never intended fi)r publication, 
date'l riuifust, 18'27, in which, referring to Vlr. Buchanan's Lancast' r letter, he sa>s: ■' 1 
could not desire a stronger i-tatement." Again, in public, upon the occision of a dinner given 
him in Washingion on hia re:irement from the office of Secretary of State, he said : 

" That citizen (General Jackson) has done me great injustice. I' was inflicted, as I must 
ever believe, for the double purpose of gratifying private lesentment and promoting personal 
an'bition. When, during the late canvass, he cume forward in the public prints, under his 
pro( er name, with hiss charg ; against me, a 'd sunrnoned b fore the publi • tribunal his fi.end 
and only witness (Vlr. Buchanan) to e>-tablish it, the anxious attention cf thevvhole American 
people was directe! to the testimony which that wiine&s might render He promptly obeyed 
the Cidl, and testified to what he knew He could s\y nothintr, and ho said nothing which cast 
the slightest sh^de upon my honor or integrity. What he did say was the reverse of any im- 
plication of me." 

Thus, fellow-citizens, we have the private and public opinion of my father respecting the 
testimony of Mr. Buchanan upon the charge of ba gain end intrigue. I know that my father 
wou'd not have expressed such opinions unless he believed them t'> be true. He was "atisfied 
with Mr. Buchanan, and so expressed hin^s'-lf privately mi d publicly ; ihat is enough for me, 
and so far as I am concerned, it is of the smallest possible consequence what may be the opitiion 
of those partisans who are no w endeavoring to ttrike down their political opponent with 
weapons dragged from ihe tomb. 

Fellow-citizens, you are aware you cannot vote for Fillmore alone. You must know that, in 
voting for the electoral ticket of Mr. Fiilmore, you also vote for Andrew Jackson Donelson ; as, 
in voting for that of Mr. Buchanan, you vote for John C. Breckinridge Mr. Pilirnore himself 
becyme President bv one of those dispensations of Providence which may likewise ctise Mr. 
Donelson to fill the chair, if th'-ir ticket were successful. Between Donelson an i Breckinridge 
I could not hesitate for a single instant. I know Major Breckinridge well ; he is not only ray 
fellow-Ke'.'tuckian, but my fellow-townsman, also. We have differed in politics, bui I have 
never heard t)ut one opinion exfuesse.d of him — that he is an honora ile, high-toned Kentucky 
gentleman. It afFu'ds me very great pleasure to relaie to you an incilent which occurred in 
nny presence, and wh ch afforded as much giatificaiion to my father as it was honorable and 
creditable to Major Breckinridge Very soon after his first election to Congrfss. Maj Breck- 
inridge called upon my father, and I was pres-^nt at the i terview. '' Mr. C ay,'' said ' 'ajor 
Breckinridge, (• f course 1 can give only the substance,) " I have been elected from your old 
dii-trict, and am about to go, quie a young man, to Washington city. We have always dif- 
fered, sir, in po itics, but I have ever entertained the h ijhest r spect for you. I have no doubt 
but I shall often have occasion fir good a'lvice, and if y'U will allow me, sir, to do so, it will 
afford me great satisfaction to call freely upon you at Washington, and to be enabled to avail 
my.'-elf of your wisdom and great experience." 

Between such a man as this ami Andrew Jackson Donelson I, at least, fellow-citizens, would 
have no difficulty in making a ( hoice. 

Fellow-citizens, I have already occupied more of your time than I h-sd any right to expect 
wouhl be given so attentively to every w.rd that I have addressed to you. I thank you from 
the bottom of my he^irt. I trust that you will dlow me. on taking my leave of y m, t'l in- 
dulge the hope that my f ffort o doect your attention to the imminent danger A-hich threatens 
our glorious Union may not be whollv without a^ail, an^l that you will, at any rate, fellow- 
citizens, believe me, in what I have said to you, to have been perfectly and entirely sincere. 



